Proximity
by DarkPoisonousLove
Summary: Griffin follows Valtor on one of his missions but when she has to face him, the anger in him doesn't register in her enamored mind when he's distracting her with his proximity. Set after Griffin escaped from Valtor and joined the Company of Light.


**A/N: I've had this idea for a while and it agreed with me yesterday so here it is. Hope you'll like it!**

That hadn't been the plan.

(That was a lie – she knew it deep in her heart.)

She'd tracked him down to find out what he wanted, what he was after.

(That was a lie – she'd tracked him down because she knew what she was after.)

She'd been careful to not let her magical aura give away her presence to him but she'd slipped.

(That was a lie – he'd taught her too well for her to make a mistake like that.)

He'd cornered her and she was in mortal danger now, with her back pressed against the wall in a dark alley and nowhere for her to go.

(That was the truth – murderous rage was burning in his eyes as she felt his magic trembling in the air as it slowly crept towards her like a predator waiting to strike.)

"What are you doing here?" Valtor asked, his voice nearly shaking with anger. It distracted her from the sweet call of his magic with its heavenly sound. It felt like rain in the desert to hear him speak, speak to her.

"I'm tired of running from your rage," Griffin said as she held his gaze, not feeling the need to flinch away from the raging flames in it. They made his eyes shine like diamonds left in the sunlight – a precious sight. "I'm here for us to settle the score," she said, watching his face and drinking in the tiniest of changes, trying to memorize his features and the shift in them that allowed him to show his disbelief.

"Really?" he asked, drawing her attention to his mouth. His lips were twisted in a grimace but all she could see was the wary smile that had taken over them when she'd first told him she loved him. It had seemed so flimsy, and she'd sworn she'd treasure the memory of it for the rest of her life. "After you betrayed me and escaped in the middle of the night like a coward?" His magic almost got away from him, leaping towards her, but he held it back, balling his hands into fists to not reach for her and crush her bones.

"I had to help the Company against your mothers," she said, barely keeping herself from taking his hand into hers to have him believe her. "But it's personal between you and me." Him she'd never wanted to leave.

Valtor surged at her, his fingers digging into her upper arms, and he slammed her into the wall behind her, the pain momentarily blocking out the feeling of his hands on her but it was back soon enough, having her breathing again. Her mouth still fell open when he pressed himself against her more. "Why don't you tell me why you really came here tonight?" he asked, his mouth so close to hers that she couldn't resist the impulse to lick her lips.

"I had to see you," she said, allowing his gaze to bore a hole into her. She raised her hand to touch his face for her desire knew no rest, but he caught it and pressed it into the wall roughly, no traces of care evident in the action. Still, she closed her fingers around his hand to feel his skin under them. His gloves had disappeared just before he'd grabbed at her, the old habit coming back to life and filling her with hope that he still held some love for her.

"Miss me already?" Valtor mocked and that was the first thing he'd done that hurt ever since he'd caught her. And he seemed to get that, his eyes sparkling with evil glee. "What do you expect me to do?" He leaned in even closer until his lips were almost on hers, and she didn't dare move for she'd fall apart if he pulled away from her. "Make love to you and kiss you goodnight after walking you home to the Company of Light?" his tone was so soft it could almost be mistaken for a genuine suggestion rather than a sarcastic one. And it was so cruel of him to taunt her with the thing she wanted most.

"Please, just touch me," she heaved out, nearly breathless from his revenge. She would do anything to feel him again. She'd suffer for him if that was what he wanted of her. As long as he touched her.

"You want me to touch you?" He pulled his hand out of hers and the loss of contact was like a slap in the face or a stab wound in the chest. It combined the humiliation of the first and the brutality of the second. "You know I can squeeze all the air out of your beautiful little throat, right?" he wrapped his hand around her neck, the other one still holding her in place. As if she had any desire to run away. She'd done that once already. And she'd ended up finding her way back to him. That was the only place she wanted to be – in his arms.

"Please," Griffin's eyes filled with tears. She knew she would die if he denied her plea. She needed to feel him.

"You want me to kill you?" Valtor asked, his lips brushing against hers as the words pierced her ears. He wanted that for sure and he wasn't trying to hide that fact. He wanted to stuff that knowledge in her mouth and down her throat until she choked on it and let go of her life and him.

"I just want you," she said, both of her hands closing in his coat and holding on. She couldn't let him slip away, couldn't have his magic whisk him away and leave her heart to decay without his body pressed into hers and his heart pounding madly under her palm.

He looked at her as if he'd never seen anything like her before and then pulled her into a kiss that had her instantly parting her lips to let him steal from her – her breath, the caresses of her tongue, the fervor she returned the kiss with. She gave him everything freely. She was his and denying that would only push him away. And she didn't want that. She didn't want anything to change. She could die happily trapped between his lips if she could take him with her.

He had other plans, it seemed, as he pulled away and left her struggling to breathe, lungs heaving but her hands clutching at him just as tightly as before.

"I will make you wish you were dead," Valtor said before moving to kiss her again.

She met him halfway, her mouth latching on to his hungrily, desperately, even though she barely had any air left. It didn't matter what he'd do to her just as long as he was there, as long as he was touching her. He couldn't possibly find something that would torture her more than all those agonizing nights she'd had to spend without the warmth of his arms.

So she let him take what he wanted and let herself feel all of him, having him this close again seeming like a dream too good to be true, but his touch on her skin proved it was real. And her heart was racing happily in her chest until he pulled out of her and had them both dressed in a second, his magic wrapping her up in its cold dismissal as if nothing meaningful had happened between them.

"Valtor-"

He caught her jaw, halting her words. "Now you'll go back to your Company and you will act like none of this happened," he spoke, his voice low and warning, but it was what he said that had her eyes filling with hurt. "And every time you leave me," the words hit her square in the chest and even the confirmation she would get to feel him again couldn't help her, "with the memories of me between your legs and your growing secret in your head, you'll wonder how close your friends are to finding you out and punishing you themselves even though you haven't actually betrayed them."

He disappeared after that, leaving her alone to pick herself up and go back to a place where he wasn't waiting for her.

Faragonda was, though. She met her with concern and relief in her gaze that had all of Griffin's certainty that she could handle the consequences melting away.

She lied to her friend with a cold heart that she'd gone to check a lead that led nowhere–when it had led her to everything she'd wanted and her personal hell–and she didn't like how close Valtor's words hit to home. Yet, she knew she'd go back. Back to the one she loved. Because that twisted game they played was the closest thing to happiness she would ever get.


End file.
